Who’s To Blame For The Patriots Follies?

Sep 29, 2014; Kansas City, MO, USA; New England Patriots quarterback

(12) and wide receiver Matthew Slater (18) watch the game on the sidelines during the second half against the Kansas City Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium. The Chiefs won 41-14. Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports

Pessimistic would be generous to describe how Patriots’ fans are feeling after Monday night’s blowout loss to the Kansas City Chiefs.

While we have seen the Pats have four-game struggles, but the start to this season has been troubling because some of the issues look more difficult to fix than in the past. There is no lineman currently injured that will return and help stabilize the front for Tom Brady, and perhaps this is how Rob Gronkowski will look for the rest of his post-injury career?

But with any team, there is more to just the product on the field. Coach Bill Belichick and Owner Robert Kraft are usually the tacticians behind putting this roster together, and so far, it looks like this iteration of the Patriots is sub-par. Clearly when they moved Logan Mankins to Tampa, they sacrificed leadership on the offensive line for some youth and athleticism, but this group clearly isn’t ready and they don’t have a leader who can recognize the rush like some of their predecessors.

Pats fans are quick to defend Brady by using the excuse of a poor line and not the most talented receivers and backs, but frankly, Brady has dealt with worse groups, mainly at the skill positions. The protection is Brady’s biggest issue, as he lacks the true ability to avoid the rush with anything other than a slide step or two. He has to do a better job of directing his lineman in where to block, or changing the play at the line based on what he believes the defense is showing him.

What also hurts Brady is his lack of accuracy on the deep ball. This is something many NFL fans have noticed and it has been deteriorating over the past three seasons. Since Randy Moss left,  he hasn’t had the best deep threats in the league, making his job delivering the ball down-field even more difficult, but he just hasn’t been able to make the adjustment.

On the defensive side, this past week was their first really poor performance. The running defense was abysmal last night against a less-than-stellar offensive line, but getting after Jamaal Charles doesn’t really make things so simple. Ah, but Brandon Browner comes back from suspension to make his Patriots debut this week against the Bengals, so until we see this defense at full strength, let’s reserve judgement on a unit that has been average-to-above-average and isn’t the main concern at this point in the season.

So after all of that, there is a nice trio of people to blame for New England’s mediocre-at-best start. Brady, Bellichick, and Kraft all get the credit when the team succeeds, but now it is time for them to get their share of the blame for a season that could see them fighting for the AFC East crown until the last week.